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Japanese title
東京ミュウミュウ
Manga-ka/Author
征海未亜 Mia Ikumi
吉田玲子 Reiko Yoshida
Genre
action, romance, shoujo
Volumes: 7
Distributor: Tokyopop
Classification: U
Originally serialised in
なかよし
Nakayoshi
Rating
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11 year old Ichigo Momomiya is your typical schoolgirl; an average student who
loves cute things and has a huge crush on her school's resident prince, Masaya
Aoyama, who is too interested in endangered species and saving the planet to
notice her.
It's ironic, then, that a freak accident outside the museum causes Ichigo and
four other girls to have their DNA fused with that of five endangered animals.
Ichigo is alarmed to discover her new-found similarities with the Iriomote
Wildcat, but even more so when she finds herself growing cat ears and a tail and
fighting monsters.
Ichigo meets the enigmatic Ryou Shirogane, who tells her that these monsters are
'chimera anima' - created when a hostile alien race alters the DNA of an animal,
in order to take over the Earth. He tells her that it's her duty as her
alter-ego Mew Ichigo, to protect the Earth from this threat, and also to find
the other four girls who have also had their DNA fused with an endangered
animal.
In order to find the others, Ichigo begins work at Café Mew Mew, owned by Ryou
and the charismatic Keiichiro Akasaka. It's not long before Ichigo finds the
other Mew Mews, and strength is found in numbers (even if they don't get along!).
Will the Mew Mew girls succeed in saving the Earth from alien invasion?
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The first thought that strikes me when considering this series is that it's an
almost perfect cross between Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon.
Needless to say, if you like these two series then it's almost a certainty that
you'll enjoy Tokyo Mew Mew.
It's quite obvious from the beginning that this series is aimed towards pre-teen
girls. Tokyo Mew Mew is one of the archetypal shoujo series, and
it's likely that you will either really love it or completely hate it.
Regardless of the above, Tokyo Mew Mew appears to be a decent series; the
artwork is solid (although overly-cute as would be expected) and attractive. The
story itself isn't that unique, but this series does follow a tried-and-tested
(and very popular) formula and thus has a reasonably-sized fan following.
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Manga
The manga series is
finished in the West and, being released in 2003, should be easy enough to find.
There is also a spin-off second manga series, Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode, in
which Ichigo goes travelling and her place as team leader of the Mew Mews is
taken by another girl, Berii, as they face a new threat. This series is also
published by Tokyopop in the West.
Anime
Tokyo Mew Mew
also has an anime release, which was subsequently dubbed by American company
4kids. The dubbed series has been featured on American TV, but many Tokyo Mew
Mew fans consider this release, Mew Mew Power, to be vastly inferior
to the original Japanese series.
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